Transfer of discrete articles between two paths

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are disclosed for transferring discrete articles between two paths, in particular for casing or uncasing of articles such as bottles. The articles are advanced in groups in a first path, either in a case or without a case, and when they reach a transfer station all articles of a respective group are engaged and raised and at the same time moved laterally for deposition in another path. If the articles are originally in a case they are removed and deposited in the other path in uncased condition, or if the articles are originally in uncased condition they are moved to the other path and deposited in a case.

United States Patent 1191' Kurtenbach Jan. 8,1974

[ TRANSFER OF DISCRETE ARTICLES 3,601,951 8/l97l Bargel 53/ 166 x 2,921,425 1/1960 Seval 53/247 BETWEEN TWO PATHS Willi Kurtenbach, Klothkamp, Germany Holstein & Kappert Maschinenfabrik Phonix Gmbl-l, Dortmund, Germany' Filed: Oct. 18, 1971 Appl. No.: 189,998

Inventor:

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 17, 1970 Germany P 20 51 [39.1

US. Cl. 53/247, 53/250 B65b 21/18 Field of Search 53/159, 166, 247,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,185,328 5/l965 Dardaine et al. 53/l66 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Germany 53/247 Primary Examiner-Travis S. McGehee Assistant Examiner-John Sipos Att0rneyMichael S. Striker ABSTRACT in a case they are removed and deposited in the other path in uncased condition, or if the articles are originally in uncased condition they are moved to the other path and deposited in a case.

5 Claims, 3. Drawing Figures PATENTEUJAH 1914 3783.587

SHEEI 1 OF 3 /NVEN TOR: gvvlLL/ KURTENBACH a I 4; AfTORNiE Y rat/83587 PATENTEDJAH 8 m4 SHEU 2 [)F 3 Fig.2

W/LL/ KURTENBACH PATENTEDJAN' 8:974 3783587 sun-:1 3 or 5 INVENTOR- W/LL/ KURTENBACH ATTORNEY TRANSFER OF DISCRETE ARTICLES BETWEEN TWO PATHS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the transfer of discrete articles between two paths, and more particularly between two parallel paths. Still more particularly the present invention relates to a method of continuously casing or uncasing discrete articles into or from receptacles, and to an apparatus for carrying out the method,

Apparatus for such purposes is already known. One known apparatus is used for the continuous uncasing of bottles, glass or the like and is provided with gripper elements which are mounted on chains trained about horizontal axes. The gripper elements engage the respective articles, such as the bottles, glasses or the like, which are advanced on a conveyor belt in an upwardly open case, with the conveyor belt moving in parallelism with the direction of movement of the lower run of the endless chain. Immediately after a case' containing the article has moved beneath the gripper elements, the case is engaged by a lifting table from beneath and is advanced forwardly with a speed equalling the speed of advancement of the gripper elements, while simultaneously being lowered about the axis of the arm carrying the table. In order to avoid relative movements between the gripper element and the respective articles the gripper element in each case is moved vertically upwardly along a curved track and after lifting the article which it has engaged, out of the case the gripper element is returned to its original position. The engaged articles depend freely from the respective gripper element and are deposited on an additional conveyor belt which supplies them to a processing location, for instance to a machine for cleaning, filling or the like.

One of the disadvantages attendant to this prior-art construction is that it tends to frequent malfunctions, particularly in the region where the objects are engaged and removed from the case,.be cause the gripper elements which move against the curved track which guides them are not always properly in control, especially if the centering elements associated with them are in some way damaged. Moreover, the table which raises and lowers the cases requires a relatively complicated control which of course makes the construction even more subject to breakdown.

However, the casing and uncasing art is well developed and other apparatuses for this purpose are therefore also known. Thus, there exists in the prior art a further apparatus for casing and uncasing in which the gripper elements are mounted in a horizontal track and are advanced by a drive which moves about a vertical axis. Thus, the gripper elements also move about the vertical axis in a horizontal path and articles which are for instance supplied in cases are engaged by lowering the gripper elements onto the respective articles from above and lifting them out of the case. Once the gripper elements with the engaged articles have been raised to an upper position they are advanced along the curved horizontal track until they reach a conveyor which extends in parallelism with the one on which the articles have been supplied. When the gripper elements with the engaged articles are above this second or removal conveyor, they are lowered and the articles are deposited on the removal conveyor which move at the same speed as the gripper elements which approach'it.

This apparatus is not subject to the disadvantages outlined above with respect to the first-mentioned apparatus. However, it also has certain disadvantages, among which there is the fact that a relatively large radius is required for guiding the gripper elements in the curved horizontal path, and as a consequence the distance through which the gripper elements must move from the time they have released the engaged articles until they can engage new articles is relatively long, meaning that a relatively significant time must elapse during which the gripper elements move nonproductively. The same is true, of course, of the movement from the time a gripper element has engaged an article until the time at which itcan deposit it on the removal track, which is of course again unproductive time in the sense that if the path to be traversed were not as long, the gripper element could presumably be available for already engaging and shifting another article.

Evidently the state of the art is such that further improvements are desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide such further improvements.

More particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for the continuous casing and/or uncasing of discrete articles into or out of cases or other receptacles.

A concomitant object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus for carrying out the method.

In pursuance of the above objects, and of others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a method of continuously casing or uncasing discrete articles, which method-- briefly statedcomprises the steps of advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station, engaging all articles of a respective group at the transfer station, and transferring the thus-engaged articles as a group upwardly and laterally of the first path to a different second path paralleling the first path.

Thus, the once-engaged articles still perform a certain forward movement in their original direction of movement, and atthe same time are raised and then moved laterally of the original direction until they reach the other path in which they are deposited. It is a particular advantage of the novel method that the individual movements in the transfer of the articles from one to the other path follow one another immediately. Thus, the articles which have been engagedassuming that for instancethat they have been moving in the first path while located in a case-are raised to a height corresponding at least to the height of the case and as soon as they have reached this height, and while they are still moving in their original direction along with the case, they are shifted immediately transversely to the original direction and immediately after reaching the parallel second path they are deposited on this second path.

The present invention is highly suitable for the continuous unpacking or uncasing of discrete articles, and if the articles are supplied on aconveyor which advances a filled case, it is proposed according to the present invention that they are engaged from above by suitable gripping devices, that they are raised and advanced in the same direction as the case from which they are being removed, and that after they have been raised to at least the height of the case and during further linear movement in their original direction are then moved transversely to a second conveyor in parallelism with the first conveyor on which they are deposited.

The present method is also highly suitable for casing of such discrete articles, that is for depositing articles into a case. To accomplish this with the present method the articles are advanced in groups linearly on a first conveyor, they are engaged as a group and during further linear advancement in their original direction they are raised and moved transversely to their original movement to the parallel second conveyor on which upwardly open cases are being advanced, and the articles of each group are then deposited in one such case.

The movement of the gripper elements which engage and transfer the articles, with the latter depending from the gripping elements, takes place along a curve or curved track which is the resultant of the components of movement of the horizontal motion, the upward motion and the transverse motion performed by the gripping elements.

An apparatus for carrying out the method may comprise, according to the invention and briefly stated, first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station, and second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a second path above and laterally spaced of the first path and away from the transfer station. Transfer means is provided at the transfer. station for engaging the articles of each group at the station in the first path, and for transferring the thus-engaged articles as a group to the second path.

Transfer means advantageously utilizes a transfer device which moves about parallel horizontally spaced axes, because with such an arrangement the radii through which the upper and lower run of the transfer device must be deflected can be maintained very small.

' This of course results in a substantial reduction of the path to be traversed by the engaging devices, aside from the fact that such a construction makes it possible to have the individual engaging devices or gripper elements located closely adjacent one another. It is a particular advantage of this construction that, by contrast to a device in which the gripper elements are moved aobut horizontal axes in an endless path, the individual gripper elements do not interfere with one another while moving around the respective horizontal axes belong the respectively leading gripper element is advanced over the conveyor device where it is to pick up or deposit an article already at the level of the horizontal axis about which it moves and in direction transverse to the linear advancement.

It is advantageous for the transfer device to use a horizontally acting cylinder and piston unit whose freely guided piston rod is provided with at least one vertically movable unit on which the gripper elements are pivotably mounted.

It is also possible, according to a concept of the invention, that the cases into which articles are to be deposited or from which they are to be removed are supported against engaging elements whose speed of advancement is the same as that of the transfer device and slower than that of the device on which the cases move. These engaging elements move at a slightly lesser speed than that of the device advancing the cases, so that a direct contact of the respective cases with the engaging elements is assured and a proper centering and positioning of the cases beneath the gripper elements at the processing or transfer station is guaranteed.

It is advantageous if the transfer device utilizes two parallel endless chains which are trained about parallel horizontally spaced horziontal axes.

According to a further embodiment it is possible for the transfer device to be so constructed that the supply and/or return run is inclined upwardly at an angle to the horizontal plane in which the articles and/or cases are advanced, with the run carrying the engaged articles continuously approaching the upper second path where the articles are to be deposited, and with the empty run which returns continuously diverging away from the upper second run.

Such a construction makes it possible to eliminate special vertically operating units for raising or lowering the gripper elements, and to provide the transfer means with only horizontally acting adjusting devices. It has been found to be particularly advantageous if the inclination of the runs can be adjusted. Furthermore, and in order to obtain an optimum adjustment of the transfer means to different conditions, and in particular to differently dimensioned and/or configurated articles, it is advantageous if the device. supplying the articles or cases in the first path, and the device removing the articles or cases in the second path,-be heightadjustable.

Still another embodiment provides for the transfer device itself to be height-adjustable in order to provide a further accommodation for different dimensions of the articles, in particular for articles of different height.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a detail in a further embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, and firstly the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, it will be seen that reference numeral 1 identifies a conveyor which advances articles or cases in a first path; reference numeral 2 identifies an additional conveyor which extends in parallelism with the conveyor 1 but at a higher level, and which receives articles to remove them.

A device 5 is provided which is located above the conveyor 1 and trained about horizontally spaced parallel horizontal axes 3 and 4, the device for instance utilizing two parallel endless chains as mentioned before. Pivoted to the device 5 are horizontally movable units 6 which are provided with vertically movable adjusting units 7 on which the gripper heads 8 with (in this instance) bottle grippers 9 are secured. The device 6 may be constructed as a telescopic cylinder, with at least one piston unit section being provided with a vertically acting adjusting device 7 for receiving the gripper head 8. Additional sections may also be provided with similar units 7.

It is also possible, as shown in FIG. 1-in conjunction with or independently of the measures just discus- I sed-to mount the gripper heads 8 on a carriage 10 which is shiftable in a horizontal plane on guide rails 11 which are guided in a U-shaped track 12. The vertical movement of the gripper heads 8 is then effected by means of an adjusting device 13 which is mounted in the carriage 10, and the horizontal shifting of the latter is effected by suitable non-illustrated cams (known per se) against which the device 13 or a non-illustrated contact member, is moved into engagement. The horizontally shiftable carriage 10 or the units 6 may be mounted, as pointed out before, on two parallel endless chains trained about the axes 3, 4, or they may be guided in suitable tracks.

Reference numeral 14 identifies receptacles, such as cases or the like, which are upwardly open and which are sequentially supplied on the conveyor 1 to the inlet end of the latter, where they are spaced from one another at the necessary spacing distance. During forward movement on the conveyor the individual cases 14 move into the path of engaging elements 16 which extend into the path of advancement of the cases 14.

The conveyor 1, here illustrated as a belt-type or straight-type conveyor 17, moves at a speed which is slightly higher than that of the engaging elements 16, to assure that the individual cases 14 are pressed firmly against the elements 16 so that the cases 14 which are to be uncased are properly centered under the gripper heads 8 which move with the same linear speed.

The gripper heads 8 with the grippers 9 move about the axis 3 and thereupon towards the articles 18 of which each is then engaged by one of the grippers 9, for instance by admitting compressed air into a bladder associated with the respective gripper 9 and which is distended into engagement with the respective article 18. This featureis already known from the art and of course there are other ways in which the grippers 9 can engage the articles.

Immediately after the grippers 9 have engaged thev group of articles 18 accommodated in a respective 14,

the grippers 9 and the gripper heads 8 are raised, with the articles 18 depending from the respective grippers 9. This takes place while the case 14 and the articles 18 continue to move, together with the gripper heads 8, in their original direction of advancement (towards the left in FIG. 1) and until the lower ends of the articles 18 are raised slightly above the upper edge of the case 14. During further linear advancement in'the aforementioned direction the device 6 or the carriage 10 now moves transversely to this direction, and approximately during this transverse direction the gripper heads reach the area of the axis 4 about which they are guided so that they are now raised further until they reach a level above the upper surface of the removal conveyor 2. Immediately thereafter the unit 7 or the unit 13 is lowered, so that the engaged articles are lowered onto the surface of theconveyor 2 which moves at the same speed at which the gripper heads 8 advance. The articles are now disengaged and are removed by the conveyor 2. In this manner the successive cases 14 are uncases or emptied, and can then be supplied to a suitable processing station, whereas the articles 18 are themselves supplied to a processing station,

for instance to a bottle-washing machine, to a filling apparatus, or the like.

The actuation of the units 6 and 9, the gripper heads 8 and the device 13 can be carried out in a manner known per se, as can be the correlation of their respective movements. Such means are, for example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,328 and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,951, to which reference may be had. lfthe length of the path reguired for removing the articles from the cases is to be maintained short, particularly if this is dictated by considerations requiring that the number of gripper heads be limited, the articles are lifted out of the respective cases 14 only in the region where the gripper heads pass upwardly about the axis 4, as well as by simultaneous upward displacement of the devices 7 or 13. In such case, they are immediately thereafter moved transversely until they reach the conveyor 2 on which they are deposited. In such case it is necessary to reduce the speed of advancement of the cases 14 in correspondence with the forward movement of the articles themselves which has been reduced by the upward component of movement imparted to the same. This can be achieved by utilizing behind the conveyor 17 another conveyor which is adjustable in-its speed, or in the area in question the cases 14 can be freely guided so that the objects 18 accommodated in them will themselves contribute to a retardation of their case 14. The distance to the next-following case is so large that no interference of the case being emptied with the next-following case which is still' to be emptied will take place.

Coming, finally, to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 it will be seen that this is concerned essentially with the same apparatus as discussed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. Again, the actuation of the various components, and the correlation of their movements, may be in accordance with the teaching of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,185,328 and 3,601,951. I-Iere, however, the arrangement for advancing the gripper heads is in form of endless chains 21 which are trained about horizontally spaced parallel axes l9 and 20, and the chains 21 are inclined to the horizontal plane of advancement 22 .of the article and cases, in upward direction. This means 'thatthe run 23 approaching the conveyor on which the cases to be emptied advance, will approach the plane of this conveyor continuously, whereas the 'run in which the engaged articles are removed towards the removal conveyor, will recede' continuously from this plane. The inclination of these two runs 23 and 24 is adjustable in accordance with measures well known from the art, and the device (also known from the art) necessary for increasing or decreasing the length of the chains 21 is mounted directly on the axis 19. However, the supply conveyor can also be made heightadjustable, as well as the removal conveyor. Furthermore, and in order to avoid the necessity for separate adjustments of the supply and removalfconveyor, it is also possible to make the transfer means heightadjustable. All of these features are in themselves known from the art and present no problems to those having ordinary skill in this field.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in the transfer of articles between two parallel paths located on different levels, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

1. An apparatus for transferring groups of discrete articles between two parallel paths, comprising first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station; second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a parallel second path above and transversely spaced from said first path, away from said transfer station; and transfer means at said transfer station for engaging the articles of each group at said transfer station in said first path, transferring the thus engaged articles as a group transversely of said first path to said second path, and for depositing said articles onto said second path for movement parallel to said first path, said transfer means comprising at least one device located at said transfer station and movable vertically and horizontally with reference to said paths and including a horizontally acting cylinder and piston unit provided with a freely guided piston rod and at least one vertically movable unit connected with said piston rod, a plurality of gripping units pivotally connected to said vertically movable unit, and displacing means mounting said device and being movable about a horizontal axis extending transversely to both of said paths.

2. An apparatus for transferring groups of discrete articles between two parallel paths, comprising first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station; second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a parallel second path above and transversely spaced from said first path, away from said transfer station; and transfer means at said transfer station for engaging the articles ofeach group at said transfer station in said first path, transferring the thus engaged articles as a group transversely of said first path to said second path, and for depositing said articles onto said second path for movement parallel to said first path, said transfer means comprising at least one device located at said transfer station and movable vertically and horizontally with reference to said paths and including a horizontally acting telescopic cylinder and piston unit provided with piston rod sections and a plurality of vertically movable units provided on said piston rod sections, a plurality of gripping units pivotally connected to said vertically movable units, and displacing means mounting said device and being movable about a horizontal axis extending transversely to both of said paths.

3. An apparatus for transferring groups of discrete articles between two parallel paths, comprising first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station; second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a parallel second path above and transversely spaced from said first path, away from said transfer station; and transfer means at said transfer station for engaging the article of each group at said transfer station in said first path, transferring the thus engaged articles as a group transversely of said first path to said second path, and for depositing said articles onto said second path for movement parallel to said first path, said transfer means comprising at least one device located at said transfer station and movable vertically and horizontally with reference to said paths, a plurality of gripping units depending from and pivoted to said device, and displacing means mounting said device and being movable about a horizontal axis extending transversely to both of said paths, said displacing means comprising a run having an upstream portion which continuously approaches said first path from the direction of said second path, and a downstream portion which continuously recedes from said first path in direction toward said second path.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3; further comprising engaging elements provided on one of said first and second advancing means for engaging and advancing receptacles for said articles at a speed equal to that of the other advancing means. I v

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the inclination of said run relative to said paths is adjustable. 

1. An apparatus for transferring groups of discrete articles between two parallel paths, comprising first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station; second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a parallel second path above and transversely spaced from said first path, away from said transfer station; and transfer means at said transfer station for engaging the articles of each group at said transfer station in said first path, transferring the thus engaged articles as a group transversely of said first path to said second path, and for depositing said articles onto said second path for movement parallel to said first path, said transfer means comprising at least one device located at said transfer station and movable vertically and horizontally with reference to said paths and including a horizontally acting cylinder and piston unit provided with a freely guided piston rod and at least one vertically movable unit connected with said piston rod, a plurality of gripping units pivotally connected to said vertically movable unit, and displacing means mounting said device and being movable about a horizontal axis extending transversely to both of said paths.
 2. An apparatus for transferring groups of discrete articles between two paRallel paths, comprising first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station; second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a parallel second path above and transversely spaced from said first path, away from said transfer station; and transfer means at said transfer station for engaging the articles of each group at said transfer station in said first path, transferring the thus engaged articles as a group transversely of said first path to said second path, and for depositing said articles onto said second path for movement parallel to said first path, said transfer means comprising at least one device located at said transfer station and movable vertically and horizontally with reference to said paths and including a horizontally acting telescopic cylinder and piston unit provided with piston rod sections and a plurality of vertically movable units provided on said piston rod sections, a plurality of gripping units pivotally connected to said vertically movable units, and displacing means mounting said device and being movable about a horizontal axis extending transversely to both of said paths.
 3. An apparatus for transferring groups of discrete articles between two parallel paths, comprising first advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a first path towards a transfer station; second advancing means for advancing groups of discrete articles in a parallel second path above and transversely spaced from said first path, away from said transfer station; and transfer means at said transfer station for engaging the article of each group at said transfer station in said first path, transferring the thus engaged articles as a group transversely of said first path to said second path, and for depositing said articles onto said second path for movement parallel to said first path, said transfer means comprising at least one device located at said transfer station and movable vertically and horizontally with reference to said paths, a plurality of gripping units depending from and pivoted to said device, and displacing means mounting said device and being movable about a horizontal axis extending transversely to both of said paths, said displacing means comprising a run having an upstream portion which continuously approaches said first path from the direction of said second path, and a downstream portion which continuously recedes from said first path in direction toward said second path.
 4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3; further comprising engaging elements provided on one of said first and second advancing means for engaging and advancing receptacles for said articles at a speed equal to that of the other advancing means.
 5. An apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the inclination of said run relative to said paths is adjustable. 